Assessment of the impact of LUCC on NPP and its influencing factors in the Yangtze River basin, China

Land use and land cover change (LUCC) will directly affect the types, structures and functions of ecosystems, and then have important impact on vegetation net primary productivity (NPP). The evaluation of the spatio-temporal dynamic changes of LUCC and regional NPP, and assessing the impact of LUCC on NPP can facilitate the corresponding management of different environmental types of regions and provide scientific guidance for scientific development of ecological resources, and better restore and control the ecological environment, thus promoting rapid economic development. Using MODIS normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) data and meteorological data from 2001 to 2018, combined with Carnegie-Ames-Stanford model (CASA), the regional NPP was estimated, and the influence of LUCC on NPP in Yangtze River basin from 2001 to 2018 and its causes were analyzed. The results showed that the area with a land cover and land use change account for 10.98% of the total study area in the past 18 years, and the most important change is the transformation from grassland to forest and grassland to crop/natural vegetation mosaic (NVM). Forests, wetlands, crop/natural vegetation mosaic, low vegetation cover (LVC) land, urban, and water bodies are growing. The forest land area increased the most and that of grassland decreased the most. Total NPP has increased by 53887.51GgC in the past 18 years, which was due to the combination effect of LUCC change and climate change.

Automated summary

The study analyzed the impact of land use and land cover changes on vegetation net primary productivity in the Yangtze River basin from 2001 to 2018, showing that land changes led to an increase in NPP. Forest area increased the most while grassland area decreased the most.